Soul singer Esnavi doesn't have a local date, but she just self-released her debut album and is beginning to get airplay on local radio stations.

Esnavi

N.Y. scene took notice

Born Nafeesha Madyun on Milwaukee's east side, Esnavi was 3 when she gave her first public performance during a Ms. Black Wisconsin Pageant. Yet it took time for the Riverside University High School graduate to realize her true calling.

"I was acting and performing at a very young age, but it wasn't until I was in high school that I realized I had vocal ability," she said.

After college, she moved to New York and networked her way into a studio with some top industry recording talents. Available on iTunes since January, her self-released CD, "Exit E," is a 16-song R&B/soul triumph reminiscent of India.Arie's Grammy-nominated debut album, "Acoustic Soul."

As a teenager, Esnavi recorded with former local hip-hop crew Top Floor, where her skills as a singer and freestyle MC helped her develop as a songwriter.

While pursing a degree in marketing at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and working at a local equity firm, she wrote more than 100 songs.

"I would go to school, go to work and write songs," she said. "That's what I did my whole college career."

In the summer of 2004, a year after graduating from UWM, Esnavi moved to New York, where she supported herself working as a voiceover talent and freelance recording artist. A friend eventually referred her to her first major contact, Michel Kunz, who produced, co-wrote and played guitar, bass and keyboards on "Exit E."

"They loved the music and . . . were willing to work within my budget," Esnavi said.

Three months after its release, Esnavi's music is finding an audience. Her schedule includes a performance Friday in Fairfax, Va., shows next month in New York and Washington, D.C., and a return home to perform this summer.

With her father, Marzuq Madyun, as her manager, she credits her parents and her Midwestern roots for shaping the artist she's become.

"I always tell people in New York I'm glad I'm from Milwaukee," she said. "It gave me that base, that foundation that I have now."

- Geraud Blanks,Special to the Journal Sentinel

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The Grace Weber Band

College graduation will be another step in lifetime of music

Many college seniors are facing graduation apprehensively. Grace Weber is among them, but her apprehension is laced with excitement because she and her fellow musicians in the Grace Weber Band have thoroughly educated themselves.

"We've been playing as a band and writing songs since my freshman year," said Weber, 21. "We've gained some perspective to who we really are and what kind of music we want to be making, and we wouldn't have been able to do that without writing bad songs as freshmen and playing bad shows."

For Weber, though, the journey didn't begin in college. It began while she was growing up in Milwaukee, born to a mother whose many siblings were professional musicians. Weber began singing when she was about 11 or 12, and as part of the Inner City Youth Gospel Choir, she performed all over the city.

"People started coming up to me and saying I really moved them," Weber said. "And I realized that music is something that can be really powerful. One thing led to another, and I kept doing bigger and bigger things."

That's putting it mildly. When she was 16, she entered a Madison audition for Harlem's "Showtime at the Apollo" and found herself on stage at the great Apollo Theater, infamous for its unforgiving audiences.

"The guy before me actually got booed off the stage, and the producer was like, 'All right, you're next, good luck!' " Weber said. "I started singing, and people really loved it. It was definitely terrifying, but really fun."

The summer before she entered New York University, she applied through the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for a special educational program. As a result, she not only got to spend a week in Florida with other like-minded students, but she also got to sing at the Kennedy Center and meet then-President George W. Bush.

"It was kind of the first time that I was really around other young people who wanted to do art as a career," she said. "These things kept validating me."

So Weber already was seasoned by the time she entered NYU to study music - the theory and the business of it. But getting acquainted with Julian Pollack, a pianist living on her dormitory floor, persuaded her to keep learning.

"I was really lucky to meet Julian," she said. "We really understood each other and became best friends, which allowed for the songwriting process to be special."

They also performed together, first as Grace and Julian. However, as they added other players and developed a jazz-inflected, smooth-soul sound, they became the Grace Weber Band. They were encouraged to record a four-song EP, "Sparrows," after Weber appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show in the fall of 2009 when she was one of eight people picked from entries for the show's karaoke contest.

"The big buzz started happening based on that," Weber said. "We knew we had to get some music out, so we did it faster than we wanted to, but we were really happy with it. It's a perfect example of what's to come."

After graduation, Weber and her band will spend the summer touring and writing songs for a full-length album, which they hope to record in the fall.

"I know who I am as a musician and a songwriter," she said. "This is exactly what I want to do."

If you go

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Daryl Stuermer - Genesis Rewired

Turning it on again

After more than 20 years onstage with Genesis, Daryl Stuermer is taking fans behind the music while adding some new twists of his own.

With his Genesis Rewired project, the Milwaukee guitarist is sharing his knowledge of the British rock band that he's toured with since 1978, while taking its music in a few innovative directions.

The path for Stuermer's new group started about a year ago.

"We were going to be doing a show at the Northern Lights Theater," Stuermer said in a phone interview. "I had been in Canada doing some guitar clinics with my keyboardist (Kostia Efimov), and we went to a concert by a Genesis tribute band. When I saw Martin Levac singing, I thought this could be an interesting concept."

After being impressed by Levac's vocal resemblance to Genesis singer Phil Collins, Stuermer persuaded Levac to join his longtime band for the show.

"We performed some of my original music and also some Genesis material, doing it my way - some of it close (to the original) and some of it not so close," Stuermer said. "The show went over so well, I thought this could be a concept worth pursuing."

Now, with Levac and three other musicians he has worked with regularly, Stuermer has a repertoire of Genesis music that ranges from the band's early-'70s progressive rock era with Peter Gabriel up through its commercial success in the '80s and '90s. Throughout the show, longtime fans will find some alterations to the music they remember: an additional guitar solo in "Follow You Follow Me" or a pared-down orchestration for "Your Own Special Way."

Despite the changes, Stuermer said the melodies remain recognizable and accessible. A live recording sent to Genesis co-founder Tony Banks was even recently blessed with positive affirmation for the project.

"The funny thing about Genesis' music is that it's so hard to change," Stuermer said. "The greatness of these songs is that they sound so good the way they are."

In addition to a few concert dates in New York with Phil Collins in June, Stuermer expects to maintain his focus on Genesis Rewired in live shows this summer.